Joyride
by ariescelestial
Summary: Somehow, Killer thought it'd be a great idea to let Lady drive.


**Author's Note:** I'm posting this...though I haven't actually gotten the game yet. I've played the Japanese version, so I have a pretty good idea what's going on, but please tell me if there'sanything that doesn't jive with the US version of the game.

Though it takes place early in the game, it has some spoilers for things that are revealed much later.

* * *

The car ride had been interesting, if "interesting" meant "painful". They'd been walking towards Alcatraz for half a day when Killer told the women bluntly he'd go wherever they wanted, but they were going to go his way. 

Edna, puzzled, asked what he was thinking. Lady simply stood there, waiting for one of them to move again. Killer wondered how Lady would react if he and the Capone woman split up. Which one would she follow? He didn't want to test her on it though, and so he followed the brunette. It didn't matter where he went anyway.

Instead of answering directly, he waited until the next automobile they saw, and stole it. When the woman protested he shut her up by asking if she wanted to let her brother die. A glimmer of red came into her eyes, which Killer took as answer enough, and he went back to work. Once the car was started he sat behind the steering wheel, Edna carefully stepping into the back, but then he grinned and scooted over to the passenger's side.

"Lady," he called, pointing to the driver's seat, "you drive."

"Does she know how?"

Killer snorted. "Not that I know. That's what makes it interesting."

Lady had perched herself on the seat and closed the door. Now she looked to Killer expectantly, and he leaned over, pointing at the pedals.

"That one makes the car go, that one makes it stop. And this steers it," he said and slapped the wheel. He could hear Capone's soft protests from the back, but he ignored them. She had the good sense not to speak louder.

Lady gripped the steering wheel and slammed on the gas. In the back there was a gasp and from outside there was shouting. Killer twisted around to see a man running towards the car. In Chicago, this might have actually attracted the attention of a cop, but in this rural community there wasn't a chance.

Though, now that he thought about it, there really wasn't a need to worry about cops with Lady around. He looked over to her, frowning as he saw how tight her fingers were gripping the wheel. Was she upset? Her face was blank as ever, making it impossible to tell.

"Lady?" She turned to him and he swore. "Nothing, watch the road," he said, noticing the curve. She quickly adjusted the wheel, her red eyes returning to study the dirt road.

Had he actually been expecting an answer? Making her the driver had been a bad idea. Now he couldn't talk to her. He could drive, maybe, but then he wouldn't be able to see if she was responding. So far he'd noticed that she answered to some few things, but not much else, and since then he'd tried casting random lines out, trying to see if there was something that would prompt her to do more than just look at him. It was the same reason he'd made her driver: to see how she'd react. But she seemed to just take it all in stride.

The notion of having Capone drive was quickly squashed. The woman had probably been driven everywhere, she'd crash the car.

Lady was a fast driver, mostly because she didn't seem to think the brake pedal was all that useful; when they came to a sharp turn she didn't slow down one bit but took it head-on, barely keeping on the road. After a few more of these, Capone gasping every time, the road finally straightened out and Killer forced his muscles to relax. The last one had been around a hill, and from his view they'd almost gone rolling down the slope. But Lady had managed to get them back on the road.

Still, after about half an hour of straight road, he found himself too relaxed and got bored. With nothing else to do he looked at the brunette sitting in back.

"What makes you think your brother's in danger anyways?"

"McManus said he was sending a man to murder him."

"Huh." Killer rested his head back. He knew about the mafia in Chicago, enough to say that her brother was good as dead. Even if she got there before the hit man, so what? He'd probably be disguised as one of the police guards. There'd be no way for her to identify him until the job had been done.

"I..." Capone's voice trembled. "I have to do something, get him away from there...I can't just let him die."

Killer could hear her crying and he snorted, turning around in his seat to look at her. "Yeah, so what?" he asked. "You're just going to bust in and break him out? Don't know if you can pull it off."

Her brown eyes flared red, the malice light shining through tears. "I'll do anything to save my brother!"

He smirked. He was still skeptical that she could break into Alcatraz, but it'd be interesting to watch. Lady was tagging along anyways. As he thought about this, his eyes drifted towards Lady--who was facing Capone. He looked forward and they were already halfway off the road and--"LADY!"

For the first time she used the brake pedal, but it was way too late when they were going downhill. Killer had shouted because of the large tree that they were now headed towards, and now that the brunette had seen it she was screaming so hard it seemed her lungs would burst (in his mind, they should have). Killer lunged over to grab the steering wheel, but couldn't turn it; Lady's grip was locked and she was not budging an inch. There was a hard jerk as they crashed into the tree and Killer's head slammed into the dashboard, knocking him out.

* * *

When he came to, he found himself being rocked, back and forth, the motion as regular as the pendulum in a grandfather clock. He pressed his eyes shut as pain swelled in his skull, pushing against all sides as if to crack it. If he wasn't dead, he'd like to be so it would stop. 

Slowly he opened his eyes, noticing first the darkening sky, and then the woman looking at him. Lady gazed on his face for but a second and then looked forward. There was dry blood splattered on her cheek.

"Who'd you kill?" he croaked.

"That's your blood."

He'd forgotten the Capone woman, and the knowledge someone could see him so weak made him scowl. "Lady, put me down."

Lady gave no indication she'd heard, and the brunette explained, "Your head hasn't healed yet."

Killer reached up, feeling the hair matted down with blood. When he investigated more closely, his fingers pressed against the wound. The resulting pain made him yell and jerk in Lady's arms. She gripped him more tightly and he found his cheek lying against the cool metal that cupped her breasts. It was the first time Killer wished she wore normal clothing.

Lady had taken no notice of where his head was resting. She reacted to so little--the crash had taken Killer by surprise because it was the first time Lady had reacted to something Capone said. What had it been? They'd been talking about her...

"Brother," Killer said aloud, and Lady's head snapped down for her to look at him. "Lady...you have a brother, don't you?"

The length of her stare was his answer. Killer mulled this over. Lady had seemed so strange that he had never even considered the idea there were more of her. A brother...and then there must be a mother and father...he'd always thought she was all alone and suddenly this line of thought irritated him.

"So I guess the car got trashed?" he asked, wanting a distraction.

Lady dropped him.

It wasn't far to fall, but pain pounded in his skull again at the impact. "What the hell was that for?" he shouted at her. She stepped past him, but only covered a few feet before waiting for someone else to proceed.

"I think...she might be upset with you for suggesting the car."

Killer glared at the Capone woman. "Why should she be mad at me? She's the one who crashed it, and you're the one who distracted her!"

The brunette shook her head, the beads lying atop her thick hair swinging. "I'm not saying it's rational. Just that...after the crash, when she saw you were unconscious, she was so upset she tore the steering wheel off. And after she got you out of the car, she completely destroyed it. I think she hates them."

Lady had been gripping the wheel tight the entire time. Remembering this, Killer stood and approached the silent girl.

"Hey, Lady. Why didn't you say anything before?"

Her head turned slightly towards him, but she did not deign to actually look at him. She was being stubborn. Then again, even if she had refused to drive, it wouldn't have made a difference. He would've driven, and they probably wouldn't have crashed, but she still would've been upset. If she'd just said she was afraid...but she couldn't. He sighed. This woman really was difficult, but the challenge could be fun.

"Lady, if you hate cars, fine. No more cars. Are trains all right? My head hurts," he said, ignoring the fact his head was hurting in the first place because they'd tried a faster mode of transportation.

The red-eyed woman turned to face him now. Did that mean trains were good? It didn't explain why she was suddenly pressing her arm against the small of his back.

"What are you--" he was cut off when she swiftly bent down and hit her other arm into the back of his knees. He fell backwards, but she scooped him up quite nicely. "Dammit, Lady, I didn't say pick me up!"

Behind them there was the Capone woman's laughter. "That must mean we're walking still."


End file.
